2000 Mazda Protege LX review from North America

I did not have a problem yet with the car.

I had to align the wheels, but that happened after driving it almost 200Km on bush roads.

It's a good, reliable, no-thrill car. My car has a manual transmission, but in the first 2 gears, it seems to miss the torque. Honda, Toyota, and even Hyundai leave me in the dust at the stops (even when I take it 3500-4000 rpm) After you get in the 3rd gear, it gets again power. The automatic transmission is the other way around: after a very good start (if you press the acceleration the car jumps forward) in the 3rd or upper gears, it starts lacking in power and torque.

I did not tested the car up to the listed max speed - 192 Km/h, but you can easily accelerate up to 140. After 140 and up to 160 (the max I've reached) the acceleration is much slower.

The engine is a little bit noisy, but I do not mind. The funny part is that the engine is the loudest at 3100-3200 rpm, after which the sound gets in higher, but softer tones.

The year 2000 was the last one when LX was coming standard with many "bells and whistles" (power everything). In 2001, Mazda has downgraded the LX, by introducing a new top level model - the ES.

The cabin provides a lot of space for front seat passengers as well as for the back seat ones. The trunk is big although, several times, I missed 2 more inches in the opening (those inches would have been enough to fit bigger boxes inside).